Apparatus for testing wells



July 26, 1938. D. HANEs APPARATUS FOR TESTING WELLS Filed Aug. 17, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS.

July 26, 1938.

APPARATUS FOR TESTING WELLS D. HANES #m llllllll Ilg Filed Aug.l 17, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 26, 1938 APPARATUS FOR TESTING WELLS Dean Hanes, Duncan, Okla., assignor to Halli burton Oil Well Cementing Company, Duncan, Okla., a corporation of Delaware Application August 17, 1936, Serial No. 96,394

4 claims.

'I'his invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing oil wells, and more particularly to method and apparatus for indicating or recording the temperature in an oil well during the making of a test thereof.

In the United States patent to Simmons, No. 1,930,987, granted October 17, 1933, a method and apparatus forv testing the productivity of formations in wells is shown and described.A

It is an object of the present invention to devise means adapted to be used in connection with, or in combination with testing apparatus like that described in the patent to Simmons, mentioned above, which will indicate the temperature in a l5 well being tested by such apparatus.

It is another object of the invention to devise a novel method for testing wells in which, not only is the sample of the formation obtained, but also the temperature of the sample when it was taken.

' It is still another object of the invention toprovide temperature recording apparatus Vadapted to be lowered into a well to record the temperature therein. y Other objects and advantages reside in certain 25 novel features of the invention, as will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

winch:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of 30 the lower portion of a known type of testing apparatus, with a temperature recording apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention secured thereto.

Fig. 2, is a vertical cross-sectional view of the 35 temperature recording apparatus of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of an indicating chart used with the apparatus of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a modied form of apparatus constructed in ac- 40 -cordance with the present invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail, and first to the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs, 1,

Y 2 and 3, it will be seen that testing apparatus is there shown as having a main body portion II,

45 provided with a packer I2, and a hollow perforated pipeor strainer I3 at its lower end. The

structure of the testing tool may be identical with that described in the Simmons Patent No.

1,930,987, and need not be described herein in 50 further detail. It suiiices to state that some valve means is provided within the body portion II for admitting drilling fluid thereinto through the strainer I3.

The exterior of the lower portion of the per- 55 forated strainer may be provided with screw threads I4 so that a steel case I5 may be secured thereto. The case I5 may haveV a depending cylindrical portion I6, also threaded, and adapted to be connected to a housing I'l which contains i the temperature recording apparatus.

The joints between the case I5 and the housing I1, and the joint between the depended portion I6 and the plug I8 may be provided with suitable gaskets as illustrated.

The housing I1 contains temperature indicating or recording apparatus adapted to respond to temperature conditions within a well. The temperature recording apparatus is mounted upon a supporting structure consisting of a metallic block or plug I8 screw-threaded into the depending portion I6 of the case I5, an inner cylindrical housing I9 screw-threaded to the plug I8 and a bearing support 20 screw-threaded to the housing I9. A vertically extending shaft 2l is mounted for rotation in a bearing 22 in the plug I8, and a bearing 23 in the support 20.

A bimetallic element 2l, preferably in the shape of a spiral, is located within the inner housing I9, and has its outer end secured thereto as by means of the attaching screw 25. 'I'he inner end of the bimetallic element is attached to the shaft 2l by means of thev attaching plate 26. Thus, the arrangement is such that variations in temperature will cause the bimetallic element to expand or contract and rotate the shaft 2 I in one direction or the other.

Some liquid 31 having a high boiling point may be placed within the housing I1 and the inner housing may be provided with holes 38 to permit this iluid to contact the bimetallic element.

The bimetallic element is connected to the shaft 30 through a pair of complementary adjusting blocks 3| and 32 for Calibrating or adjusting the position of the stylus with respect to the bimetallic element. The stylus may be secured to the adjusting block 3| by means of a small leaf spring 33.

Beneath the stylus, a chart 34 may be secured, and this chart may be graduated as shown at 35, with indicia of temperature. As the stylus moves back and forth over the chart, it will leave a mark thereon as indicated at 36.

'I'he apparatus described may be caused to operate as follows: v

As the testing apparatus with the temperature recorder secured thereto is lowered into the well, the temperature encountered in the mud uid of r"the well will vary as the diierent formations are passed. .The contact of the mud fluid with the housing I'l will transmit heat to the housing and to the liquid 31 therein.

The liquid 31 maintains about the same temperature on 'the vbimetallic element 24 as that prevailing outside the housing I1. Changes in temperature in successive places in the well encountered` as the testing apparatus is moved through the well will thus be transmitted to the bimetallic element and cause it to bend and rotate the shaft 2l. through the gear train to the stylus 21. Y

This motion is transmitted.;`

Under ordinary conditions of test, the maximum temperature reached will be the temperature of the lowest formation, or the bottom of the well. With the apparatus constructed as illustrated inFigs. 1, 2 and 3, the maximum temperature reached will be indicated by the end of the mark 36 made by the stylus upon the chart. Usually the stylus will merely move from a reading of low temperature on the chart up to a maximum temperature reached, and then back to a lower temperature as the testing apparatus is lowered into the well and then pulled up out of the well. Under these normal-and usual conditions, theapparatus shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 will be suicient to obtain the required data as to temperature in testing a well.

If it is desiredto record the temperature atthe exact instant that the sample of the formation is taken by the testing apparatus, and if it is desired to record whether this temperature is the maximum encountered bythe apparatus in the well. the apparatus of Fig. 4 may be employed..

In the arrangement of Fig. 4, testing apparatus similar to that illustrated in 1 is shown asA having a main body II, a packer I2 and` a perforated pipe or strainer The testing apparatus of Fig. 4 diiers from that of Fig. 1 in that the strainer I3 has integral therewith a housing or upper ycylindrical portion 39 having no perfora- .tions therein. One known type of testing toc-l employs a housing of this kind, and the housing contains a plug having a choke hole therein to prevent uid from entering the testing apparatus too rapidly. In the present construction,` means for choking is also provided, but instead of placing the choke hole in a fixed plug, it is located within a movable piston.' Such a piston is shown at 40 in the arrangement of Fig. 4, and the choke hole therein is illustrated as consisting merely of a vertical passageway 4I therein. The piston'40 is urged downwardly by means of a coil spring 42, and movement of the piston may be limited by means of suitable stops, both above and below it, as illustrated at 43. Movement of the piston may be transmitted to a hammer 44 within the temperature recording housing by means of a piston vrod 45 which passes through a stuiling box 46 in the plug I8 secured to the bottom of the strainer I3.

The temperature recording apparatus used in4 the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4

. may be identical in all respects with the arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and the same to the4 case I5, by links 41 and is so located that it will strike the stylus 21. The arrangement is such that when the hammer` strikes the stylus, the stylus may perforate the chart or enlarge the mark made upon the chart so that a record will be made of the temperature to which the apparatus is subjected when the hammer 44 is actuated by a piston 43.

The links 41 are preferably made of yieldable metal suchas spring steel to avoid damaging the stylus when the hammer 44 strikes.

- The piston 40 may be so designed as to move only in response to sudden changes in pressure of the mud uid to which it is subjected.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, the testing apparatus is provided with a` suitable valve means (not shown) to permit fluid to enter the testing apparatus. When this valve is opened there is va sudden rush of fluid into the strainer I3. For an instant this rush of fluid will lift the piston 40 against the action of the spring e2. The uid will travel rapidly through the choke hole 4I, however, and the pressure on the opposite sides of the piston 40 will soon become ,suiiiciently equalized to allow the piston 40 to again move downwardly under the action of the spring 42, to lift the hammer 44 off of the stylus 21. The stylus will thus again be free to move over the chart and record a higher temperature, should one be encountered during the testing operation.

It will thus be seen that an apparatus has been provided which will not only record the maximum temperature in a well, but also the ten-perature of the mud fluid surrounding the. tester when the -the sampling means 'during the time that the sampling means is in the well and means for recording the temperature of the sample at the instant that it enters the sampling means.

2. The combination with a well testing tool of temperature recording apparatus including a casing, a temperature responsive element, a stylus actuated by said temperature responsive element, and a chart located within said casing, said apparatus being self-contained and sealed and having means thereon for securing the same to said tool so that itmay be lowered into a well therewith and record the maximum temperature in the well during the time that the tool and apparatus are lowered to the bottom of the well and lifted out of the well.

3. The combination with testing apparatus for obtaining a sample of material in a well of a temperature recording device, an element adapted to move when the sample of material enters the testing apparatus and mechanism foractuatingsaid temperature recording'4 device*l response to movement of said element to obtain a record of the temperature of the sample at the instant the sample is taken.

4. The combination with testing apparatus for obtaining a sample of material in a well of a temperature recording device, said device including a temperature responsive element adapted to move in response to variations in temperature, a stylus actuated by said element and a chart so disposed with respect to the stylus as to be marked thereby, the arrangementmbeing such that the stylus may record the maximum temperature on the chart as the apparatus is lowered into and removed from a well during the taking of a sample of fluid from the well.

DEAN HANES. 

